This watchdog blog, by journalist Norman Oder, offers analysis, commentary, and reportage about the $4.9 billion project to build the Barclays Center arena and 16 high-rise buildings at a crucial site in Brooklyn. Dubbed Atlantic Yards by developer Forest City Ratner in 2003, it was rebranded Pacific Park in 2014 after the Chinese government-owned Greenland Group bought a 70% stake in 15 towers. New York State still calls it Atlantic Yards. Contact: AtlanticYardsReport[at]hotmail.com

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Excerpts from three of numerous letters sent by Dean Street Block Association members to Empire State Development to respond to the Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement suggest deep dismay from nearby residents about construction impacts and oversight of the project.

(Their identities have been redacted in the letters released to the press.)

At a meeting tomorrow, Empire State Development is expected to approved a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement that allows Phase 2 of the project to go forward.

I'd bet that the state will assert that already-planned changes will aim to mitigate the neighbors' concerns, but, anyway, it was already disclosed that there would be significant impacts on adjacent streets.

Some excerpts

The worst offense though was the inexcusable lack of good faith in maintaining reasonable construction hours and noise levels. For 2+ years my family and I were woken up several times a night--4,5,and sometimes 6 days a week by trucks moving in and out of the staging area, and tractors going backwards and forwards over and over and over producing an unbelievable grinding noise each time it backed up.

If you lived on my block, and had endured the years of demolition and construction, with many years of the noise, dust, disruption and aggravation yet to come, wouldn’t you, too, want oversight and governance of the project that has to answer to your elected representatives.

I have to say that much of what Forest City has done makes great sense. Try to eliminate as much affordable housing as you can, build as cheaply as possible, promise great design then take it away, sell the project to outside investors as quickly as you can to leverage your core competency of selling state and city subsidy providers on a vision you can reduce over time.